A Quitter's Glory!

A family I love left Singapore because they have the alternative of not taking the crap dishes out by the PAP government. When members of the family were called "quitters" by SM Goh Chok Tong, you can imagine their happiness and lightheartedness when they found out that the daughter of GCT is a quitter too - another "fair weather Singaporean", lamented GCT!

Wu Chia-ching, a 20-year-old Taiwanese has just become a Singapore PR who may become a Singapore citizen soon. Said Cuesports Singapore's vice-president Ivan Lim: 'He is not just here to win medals. We want him to be involved with the schools and be a role model for younger players.'[Link]

Role Model?

1. Yes, work hard, be the best that you can be and make Singapore proud! . . . OR . . .
2. Work hard, be the best that you can be and sell (pimp) your birthright and nationality to the highest bidder?

No, I have nothing against Wu Chia-ching and I respect his decision. What eats me is in Singapore's relentless chase for fame and glory, we are selling our core values and principles as in (2). Have we lost our soul?

Maybe I'm an old fogey whose value is out of sync but to buy a foreigner and to piss off Taiwan (a friendly neighbour who allows us their land for our military training) is a little too much to bear. "Ghee Kee" - roughly translated from Hokkien: "Loyalty" or "You don't play out or screw up your ally (brother)" is missing big time here!

So what's loyalty to Singapore worth?

Squat, a load of crap or the colour of money like what we pay the ministers?

The cheek to make a song and dance out of hustling a pool talent from a friendly country on the front page of ST shows what kind of a cuntry we have become.

The role model bit is just too hard to swallow.

Yes, as each day passes, Singapore is becoming more a cuntry than a nation.

Yes, buy and sell.

Break the bank for the glory-maker and let the unproductive (used to be nation builders) rot and die (preferably in JB).

Prosecute and prostitute!

Majulah Singapura!

feedmetothefish

Is this scary or gutsy?

Lucky Tan shut down his blog for a while! [Link]

It seems Wayang Party did too!

Those who love me sms and emailed me to shut down my blog too.

So what's the breaking news? It's so shocking that it reminded me of Operation Coldstore [Link] or Operation Spectrum [Link]

I guess it started with this at CNA Forum [Link]

I am not scaring you. Below is a first hand account from a forumer in hardwarezone. I know Robert Ho who have posted articles critical of LKY in SCS and Martin ? who posted a video about SDP have been detained by ISD. Robert Ho was sent to IMH a few year back because he did not cooperate with the ISD.

=========================
Statement Of The Events Of 02/03/09

I am Tan Yeong Hong,Singapore NRIC Sxxxx884E,staying at Blk 108 Hougang Ave 1 #xx-xxxx Singapore 530108. My Hp number is xxxx9021 and my email address is yangfengsg@hotmail.com. My online moniker for Stomp / Hardwarezone is PoThePanda08 / PoThePanda.My blog is at xanga/pothepanda.I am a regular online dissident and critic of Singapore’s PAP government. However, I do not belong to any political party.

Below is a statement of events that happened to me on the 2nd of March of the Year 2009, which led me to believe that there is systematic abuse of human rights in Singapore, and that many so-called terrorists in detention are not terrorists at all. At the same time, I would like to put on record the death threats that were made to me. Should I disappear after the publication of this Statement, I urge the Singaporeans & the International Community to stand for a change.

On the 02/03/2009, I was picked up from my house at about 11am by 4 persons who identified themselves as CID. They claimed they were investigating a post on Molotov Cocktails that I had posted on the forum Stomp. With regards to this particular allegation, I wish to state that I had posted an article on Molotov Cocktails on Stomp sometime late last year. The article was copied and pasted from Wikipedia,and was posted up for information value due to its appearance in the popular game Left 4 Dead. 2-3 weeks AFTER I posted the article, the MP Seng Han Thong got burnt. Apparently, someone made a police report that I had instigated the old man to burn the MP, via posting that article.

I was driven back to Cantonment Complex and subjected to an interrogation by these persons. Chief among them was 1 who identified himself as Sebastian, supposedly from the ISD.
First,they tried the “dangling a carrot & stick” / “I am your friend” method. Sebastian repeatedly stated that he thinks I am a very intelligent person and that I am very young. He repeatedly stated that he doesn’t want to see me “going in and out of jail repeatedly”(stick) when I could “choose to be a useful citizen of Singapore. (carrot)”. Apparently, if I confessed to whatever they wanted, they would “help me become a useful citizen of Singapore.”

When I showed no emotion at such an approach, they decide to switch methods. The next method they used was pure aggression, subjecting me to a barrage of personal insults / defamatory statements in an attempt to wear me down mentally. And then they would suddenly make an incriminating statement, trying to catch me off-guard so I would inadvertently “confess” to having “conspired against the state of Singapore” and / or “participated in terrorism activities.”

In what I feel was an attempt to wear me down mentally, they made a host of
personal, defamatory attacks to me. Barbed comments like “You stay in a 3 room flat? It’s like a pig’s sty.” “You remind me of a donkey, of a mule. You are just an animal that needs to be shown who its master is.” “Some people say you can lead a donkey to water, but you can’t make it drink. Today I am here to force you to drink.” “You write rubbish, everything you say online is rubbish.”

They then repeatedly tried to lead me to “confess to having acted against the state of Singapore and committed terrorism acts” via the following method.
The 4 of them would conduct a boisterous conversation, during which insults would be constantly thrown at me. Then suddenly 1 of them would say “You committed such-and-such an act, right?” and try to catch me off-guard. I stayed calm, did not react to any aggravation and repelled all attempts by stating no repeatedly.

Having failed in their attempts to coax / coerce a “confession” of “acting against the state of Singapore and committing terrorism acts” out of me, they then stated they wanted to record a statement with regards to my post on Stomp.

At this point, I requested to have a lawyer present to assist me. All of them was visibly shocked and looked taken aback. After regaining their composure, they tried to convince me that I did not have the right to get a lawyer. I stated clearly I knew my right to a lawyer and that I wanted to contact Mr Chia Ti Lik, a well-known lawyer who I heard of through news reports and via the website www.. .

Sebastian then proceeded to defame Mr Chia Ti Lik by stating that I should not trust Mr Chia Ti Lik because Mr Chia Ti Lik is the “Slipper Man”.”Slipper Man” is an Opposition MP who was in the news because his China-born daughter-in-law murdered his other daughter-in-law. When I enquired as to the relevance of this, Sebastian claimed that Mr Chia Ti Lik cannot be trusted as he is of the same family, the same genes. The fact is, Mr Chia Ti Lik and “The Slipper Man” are 2 different persons. I strongly feel this is a gross slur on Mr Chia Ti Lik’s professional reputation.

The statement was taken by a Mr Iskander Tang, from the CID Bomb Investigation Squad. Through creative usuage of the English language, Mr Tang crafted a statement which had me “confessing” to various “offences”. He then coached me by stating that I should express remorse for my “offences” and hope for leniency. The final paragraph of the statement was dedicated to which nicknames I go by on the Internet. As I strongly suspected that this was another attempt to discredit me, I refused to express remorse for my “offences” and refused to sign the statement.

Subsequently, after frantic consultations with Sebastian over the phone, Mr Tang had me sign a statement which stated simply the nicknames I used on the Internet. After this, he stated that I had to surrender my laptop to him, upon which he would provide me with a receipt. I complied.

As I was thinking that everything was over, Mr Tang indicated that he had more things to say to me.

And I quote, ”Mr Tan, if you walk out of here tomorrow, you might get killed. You might meet with a mysterious accident, you might disappear and nobody will know what happened to you!” “Mr Tan, some things and people in this country you cannot offend! Some people are above all things! You better make sure you know this!” “Mr Tan, we can arrange for things to happen to you. You understand or not!”

I was then escorted out of the building.

List of Trangressions
1)Denial of Access to a Lawyer
2)Defaming a Prominent Lawyer,the Eminent Mr Chia Ti Lik, Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore
3)Death Threats issued against my person
4)Arrest made with no basis/evidence of any crime committed
5)Attempted Coercion / Coaxing / Coaching of A Confession
6)Repeatedly Insulting A “Suspect”
7)Attempt to get me to signed a “Confession” through mis-writing what I had said

Here is the interesting interview [Link] with Mr Tan Yeong Hong.

In Part 3 of the interview, Mr Tan repeated what Iskander Tang said, ”Mr Tan, if you walk out of here tomorrow, you might get killed.You might meet with a mysterious accident, you might disappear and nobody will know what happened to you!” “Mr Tan, some things and people in this country you cannot offend! Some people are above all things! You better make sure you know this!” “Mr Tan, we can arrange for things to happen to you. You understand or not!”

It is deja vue to note that Mr Said Zahari who was incarcerated for 17 years [Link] spoke of the same threats by the interrogators if he did not co-operate with them [Link].

It's so ironical that the latest law passed by the PAP [Link] opposed by NCMP Siew Kum Hong [Link] should coincide with this interview [Link]

And . . . . . . .

We, the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity & progress for our nation

feedmetothefish

Holy shit, he really said that?

BBC: Finally Prime Minister, I read that you’re apparently the highest-paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four, five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?

LHL: (Laughs) I’m not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent. What is the job worth, what is the quality of person whom you want. You need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you’re pretending and you just say, well, we’re all in it for the love of king and country. We wanted to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money but at the same time, their sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have. [BBC Audio Link]

Is this the best $3.7 million comment from the highest paid politician in the whole wide world? The words from the best of the best in Singapore?

"The sacrifice cannot be too great"? Yes, a frigging sacrifice worth $3,700,000 per annum with "no sound , no picture" when Mas selamat jalan; GIC & Temasek lost billions and Town Council did the Lehman Bro Special!

Sacrifice? For heaven's sake, the real sacrifice comes from the common NSmen and reservists (NOT WHITE HORSES) who are paid real peanuts (not the Mrs Goh Chok Tong's kind) for their priceless service to nation! Yes, I still remember the measly $60 NS pay which increased to $90 per month during my time! Yes, we did the "sai kang" [shit job in NS] for the love of king and country and we've been had! It's so sad that Singapore has changed from a country to a cuntry where no money, no honey? The greed culture set by the leaders is here to stay!

The day they paid themselves millions, they made a mockery of national service and nation building. The damage is done! Whatever spin that they can come out with to justify their greed will sound hollow. The saddest joke is the "decisions which are worth billions of dollars" are just that! Lost through GIC and Temasek!

To hear the highest paid politician in the world come out with such wisdom of self-worth and self praise is indeed a national disgrace! Greatgrandma of my grandchild is right again when she commented, "Lee mai kui chui, lang bway kong lee si eh kau!". Roughly translated from Hokkien, "Lee (you) don't open your mouth, nobody would call you dumb!"

Or is it another case of "chui kong lumpar song?" [meaning: mouth speaks, testicles happy]

The "job worth" and the "quality of person" of the highest paid is beyond my comprehension.

I've always thought that "Fixing the opposition and buying votes" [link] was the main Job Spec of PM. Now we learn that "open, honest and transparent" self-praise is also required to earn one's keep.

Well, maybe he thinks he is just 'too big to fail'! [Link]

While they never get tired of their hubris, I'm tired of "pretending" that we are getting value for money from these minsters.

feedmetothefish

Dialect Murderer - Fangyi Sha Sou

"If you speak Hokkien or Cantonese, you reach some 60 million in Fujian and Taiwan, or about 100 million in Guangdong and Hong Kong. With Mandarin, you can speak to 1,300 million Chinese from all provinces in China," - Lee Kuan Yew. [Link]

Yes, Sir!
We learn to be able to speak to 1,300 million Chinese in China while we make our grandparents mad because we cannot even communicate with them in our real mother tongue!

Yes, Sir!
We learn to be able to speak to 1,300 million strangers when we can't even say hello and be close with our fellow Singaporean living next door!

Call me stupid or lesser mortal, but just where is the opportunity for most Singaporeans to talk to 13,000 million Chinese?

Maybe promoting good neighbourliness and community care instead of language would have built a nation sooner. It is the same reason that the obscene salary of mintsters has marginalised the lesser and greater mortals in my country. It's a pity that one step forward is always two steps back where initiatives in "staying together moving ahead" are concerned.

"Hua wen, shei pa shei? [Chinese, who's afraid of who?]" is funny because I'm too dumb to understand their scare tactics. However, I find the tag line for 2009's Promote Mandarin Campaign ridiculously apt when converted to Hokkien in another way, "Hwa boon, si, kia si? [Chinese, die, scared to die?]".

In view of SPH's publishing and sale of the new book [Link], I'm no longer surprised by Chee Hong Tat (Principal Private Secretary to the Minister Mentor) saying, "It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin" [link]. I'm no advertising genius but promo breeds promo and nothing sells like controversy!

I have no complaint of making Mandarin the common dialect (putong hua) in Singapore but to dumb down the learning and use of other fangyi (regional language - dialect) by stopping radio and TV broadcasts was a little over the top. Many seniors were outraged by such high-handedness while younger ones were perplexed by their own different-from-father bastardised surname. Maybe it's only in Uniquely Singapore that a family named Tan can become Chen overnight. Weird!

I'm glad that my children still bear my ancestor's family name on their birth certificate and NRIC. They need not do a deed poll to change their family name or surname like some of the kids whose parents were tricked into changing. I still remember the 70's and 80's when school made my children feel bad because their surname was not what the teachers (due to instructions from decision makers & followers) expected. Yes, nurses in KK those days did ask me why I did not put Hanyu Pinyin surname on my children's birth certificate as if I was a criminal. It was 'kana sai' kind of 'seow'!!! ['Like faeces' kind of 'craziness'!!!]

Many rulers are remembered by their good or evil deeds. When the time comes, I will know of one who did his damned best to kill my real mother tongue!

feedmetothefish

Who's Stupid? Dialect or Principal Private Secretary?

WARNING:
This post is not meant for prudes with aversion to vivid words.

If there's no humour that lighten us up, another heart attack or other diseases (including smartass words from higher mortals) may degenerate our health and well-being. Yes, if not for humour, we may die younger!

Maybe, the art of living is to die young . . . . . . . . as late as possible.

It makes my day to read,"It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin" from another highly paid civil servant - Chee Hong Tat, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister Mentor. [Link].

With 2 deaths within a week, I doubt NTU is into languages right now. Their current concern is death prevention of the educated young!

Call me silly but I think to kill and condemn the learning and use of dialects is simply daft. I've always thought dialect is a regional language in various parts of China of which my grandpa came from one. We call it fang yi?

Has the beauty of the Chinese languages so commonly spoken while I was growing up in the 50's and 60's gone forever? It may be too late to lament but to hear an upstart condemning and killing fang yi raises my ire and reminds me of interesting words that I have not forgotten . It's indeed a joy when I could carry a decent conversation in Teochew, Hokien, Cantonese, Hainanese and Hakka. We even spoke in Malay and a little Tamil too.

Maybe Chee Hong Tat of Ivory Tower is afraid of Singaporeans learning to speak thus:

• Kah Nia Yee Kor Ke or Pu Bor? (Teochew)
• Kan Ni Na Ma Chow Chee Bye (KNNMCCB)? or Kee Hor Lung Kan? (Hokien)
• Tiew Lei Loh Moh Ke Chow Hai? (Cantonese)
• Kan Loo Eh Kar Chui (Hainanese)
  

The above describe mother, sex and some smelly sensitive body parts. They can also serve as responses to hubristic insensitive principal private secretaries' smartass comments.

Pardon my English but our mother tongue is literally the tissue that's in our mother's mouth. When mother's tongue moves (especially due to disappointment with their children), be ready for a mouthful! Language wise, it should be the language spoken by mother passed down from her ancestors. For decades, I still cannot accept why our mother tongue has been hijacked from us. Or is it father tongue in mixed dialect marriages?

Hard as I try to teach my kids and their kids to go against the system (and the grain) to keep our real mother tongue alive (speak dialect), my mother is still angry that she's having communication breakdown with her grand and great grandchildren because of some greedy "get rich quick scheme" that promotes the use of Mandarin and suppresses Chinese dialects.

The comedy is PAP lost greatgrandma's vote since the "Chiang Chua Jee" campaign started decades ago. For the benefit of those not into Hokien, "Chiang Chua Jee"="Speak Money" which sounds like "Chiang Hua Yi"= "Speak Mandarin". Fiesty 80+ greatgrandma is hoping she'll have her chance to vote against PAP soon even she has to limp to the voting station.

I'm so grateful that local coffee shops still accept my " kopi see siew tai" = "coffee with evaporated milk & less sugar"; "kim moon tai" = "Clementi" or "lemon tea" and "teow hu" as in "fishing" or "chinese tea in a bag"

Instead of defending his bossman on languages, Chee should Buy time in helping his bossman explain the other "get rich quick" scheme - GIC - which went awry or is it "went in too early" and suffered prematured non-ejection?

For more private principal jokes to lighten your load, please visit:
Arthur's site at http://civicadvocator.net/hey-stupid-who-do-you-call-stupid/
You'll get the bonus of a handsome picture too!

And here http://singaporecitizen.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/civil-servant-called-his-parents-and-grandparents-and-his-great-grandparents-stupid/

Life is meant for living.

Perfection is only for those living in ivory towers whose perfect lives and wise comments draw much ire from the commoners!

Happy week ahead.

feedmetothefish

When is corruption and nepotism acceptable?

After reading ST's report on Lee Kuan Yew's "GIC bought too early" today [link], I can't help recalling this report by CNA of 13 January 2008 [Link]:

JAKARTA: Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew visited former Indonesian president Suharto at a hospital in Jakarta on Sunday.

Mr Suharto is in a "very critical condition" after suffering multiple organ failure.

Speaking to Singapore media after the visit, MM Lee praised the former president for bringing progress and development to Indonesia, and stability to the region.

As Mr Suharto has been widely criticised for corruption and human rights abuses during his 32-year rule, Mr Lee said he is sad that the former leader is not getting the recognition he deserves.

Mr Lee is the first foreign leader to visit Mr Suharto after he was admitted to the hospital more than a week ago.

The minister mentor was briefed by Mr Suharto's doctors before entering the ward where the 86-year-old ex-leader remains in critical condition.

Mr Lee said he has come to visit and pay tribute to an old friend.

He said: "I feel sad to see a very old friend with whom I had worked closely over the last 30 years, not really getting the honours that he deserves. He deserves recognition for what he did. And the younger generations – both in Indonesia and in the world – do not remember where Indonesia started. I do. That's why I came here to visit him.

"He gave Indonesia progress and development. He educated the population. He built roads and infrastructure. And from Sukarno's konfrontasi and other foreign policy excesses, he stabilised international relations, cooperated in ASEAN and made ASEAN more successful than SARC in South Asia. And today, we have a stable Southeast Asia."

Despite the growth and prosperity that Mr Suharto brought, the former military general has come under heavy criticism for abusing his power.

Mr Lee said: "Yes, there was corruption. Yes, he gave favours to his family and his friends. But there was real growth and real progress. I think the people of Indonesia are lucky. They had a general in charge, had a team of competent administrators – including a very good team of economists to build up the country."

Mr Suharto was forced to step down from office in 1998, soon after the Asian financial crisis that derailed the Indonesian economy.

Many had put the blame on the former president. But Mr Lee put the developments in perspective.

He said: "From '67 when he became president right up to '97, the economy grew and Indonesia was on the point of taking off the economy. It didn't take off not because of his fault (but) because bank Indonesia's interest rate was too high, and so the companies borrowed in USD for low interest rates. When confidence was lost after the Thai baht crisis and people wanted to pull their money out, the whole thing collapsed. It was not his fault."

Comparing Mr Suharto to former Myanmar leader Ne Win, who came to power almost at the same time, Mr Lee said Indonesia is doing better now because of Mr Suharto's leadership.

"In the 1960s, Burma had the same coup with General Ne Win taking over. He did not have this team of economists. He did it his own way – the Burmese way to socialism – and if you compare Burma with Indonesia, you would know what a difference Suharto has made.

"I'm very sad to see his life come to an end without the full glory that he deserves. There're very few people of his age and my age who can remember the past. And if they can remember the past, they will know that in the 1960s, Indonesia was in very dire economic difficulties – hyper-inflation like today's Zimbabwe," said Mr Lee.

Through decades of formal ties established as leaders of neighbouring countries, it is clear that a strong bond exists between the two former heads who played a significant part in the growth and development of their respective countries as well as within the region.

- CNA/so


Nobody lives forever.

When time on earth is up for Lee Kuan Yew, will he get the honours and recognition that he so sadly felt that Suharto deserved?

Will people think that "Yes, there was corruption. Yes, he gave favours to his family and his friends" when LKY pass on? I don't know. To each, his/her own thoughts.

There was a mean joke going around about a leader. With the transparent glass showing the face of deceased in most caskets, this joker suggested that the leader's coffin should have special windscreen wipers (as in cars) on the glass of his coffin. Reason: It's to wipe the saliva from the spits of visitors paying their last respect to the deceased.

Not being overly superstitious, I have spoken to my darlings to feed me to the fish when it's time for me to go. I have no need for wipers :) However should some crazy wish to spit on my face on the final days of my journey before the fish gets me, I've told my darlings to be cool. In my happy topsy-turvy life, I may have offended some without knowing. If they can get it off by spitting on my face when I'm in a casket, it's fine with me. Having had the last breath (laugh?), what difference would it make? :)

Seriously though, is it honourable and right to practice corruption and nepotism just because one has helped to build a country?

Does wrong become right when one has attained almost absolute power?

Does the fear to lose power and the reluctance to 'let go' cause one to lose honour and integrity even when one has done much in the early development of a country?

Help me with an answer before I'm fed to the fish.

Thank you.

feedmetothe fish

Singapore's Reserves???

There's been so much talk about Singapore's reserves that I begin to seriously wonder what animal this "reserves" is all about?

What are "reserves" made of?

Are "reserves" real?

What's the worth of "reserves"?

Who actually control "reserves"?

Is the Singapore President protecting "reserves"?

I think it's time for me to get real to know what I don't know.

If it was such a hassle to draw down $4.9 billion (needing President's approval and all that jazz) in "reserves" (past or present or whatever) why was no approval needed for GIC and Temasek to mess around billions as if it were monopoly game money? While 007 James Bond is licensed to kill, is GIC and Temasek licensed to burn money like hell notes?

With all the clever reasons as to why we are not supposed to know since 2001 (read here), I've come to accept the fact that we'll never know. The bright side to not knowing is it hurts to know that 'reserves' have been treated like pokers chips being played by gamblers of "unflinching integrity" with no regrets. View video here.

Lehman Brothers collapsed. "Reserves" staked at AIG, Merrill Lynch, UBS, ABC Learning, ShinCorp, Citigroup have either tanked or declining like crazy. Will GIC and Temasek tank too?

Reserves? Not knowing is best.

Ignorance is bliss.

It's so sad that having been the Special Advisor for Citigroup for less than 3 years, MM Lee has to see Citigroup take such a free fall. Read here. It's good to know that he's able to see the light in 10, 15, 20 years according to CNA here

feedmetothefish